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| 5/24 |
| 2005/2/6-7 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:36081 Activity:high 54%like:36078 |
2/6 Gambling on housing:
http://www.csua.org/u/az4 (to the schmuck who put in the boobs, thanks)
\_ whoo! http://tinyurl.com/5jk9o
\_ I would say I hope these speculators loose their shirts and go
\_ ObYermom
bankrupt, but that's an understatement. I hope they get tarred
and feathered, and get cancer from the tar. Fuck all real estate
speculating parasite bastards.
\_ Yep. A good friend told me oh 6 months ago that the smart Vegas
real estate types were all moving money out of Vegas and into
Phoenix. I imagine those guys will move out now that the dumb
money is moving in.
\_ Seriously, can't these people find something to invest in the
grows the economy instead of just screwing the little guy?
\_ Ergo, the need for fair market, rather than simply "free".
\_ Market must be fairly regulated for all citizens, comrade.
\_ To be frank, the controlled housing market around here is
screwing me far for than the housing speculators.
\_ I have no proof, and don't really know what I'm talking
about, but I'll bet dollars to donuts those laws that
make a "controlled" housing market were written by
politicians who are in the pocket of real estate
speculators. In the end, this is why I've come to be
anti-regulation: regulation will always be written by
the shitheads, and I'd rather fight them in the free
market than live in a world where they write the laws.
\_ Actually, it's much simpler than that. For whatever
reason, no matter what type of system you have,
whether it be heavily regulated or not, whether
it is communist, capitalist, fuedalist, etc.
there will always be people who learn how to
beat and cheat the system to their own advantage.
So, it really doesn't matter what you do, there
will always be have and have nots, and the have
nots will always outnumber the haves. The only
way to have true equality is to make everyone
equal, and that's not going to happen because
doing so would result in a meltdown in society.
\_ Well, that, and it would be wrong.
\_ What is wrong with real estate speculation?
\_ When speculators take over, they end up driving
the prices up way beyond what people in that
area can afford, meaning that people who live there
get screwed and end up spending way more money on
houseing or just gettin gdriven out of the area.
If the speculating frenzy is not connected with
real economic growth of the area, everyone gets
totally fucked except for the early speculators
who screwed the later speculators. I've lost my
apartment three times in as many years to these
fuckers, and at least one of the places I had to
leave is actually still sitting vacant now, two
years after I had to move out. No, I don't live
in the Bay Area.
\_ Just for clarity, where do you live?
\_ New Haven, CT.
\_ Yale has been buying up whole city blocks
around the campus for years now. It took
real estate speculators this long to
capitalize on this?
\_ Gee, that's too bad for you. Do you need big
government to keep the bad evil capitalists
away at night too?
\_ Hey, asshole, I was the one advocating
deregulation. Just because I think something
should be legal doesn't mean I don't hate
the bastards who do it.
\_ Have trouble reading, moron? I was
saying the government IS the problem
usually. There's miles of wide open
completely unused land around here
(literally), but it remains unused
because the local government says that
it can't be built on. As far as I can
tell, this is simply to keep land
prices as high as possible.
\_ You have to hand it to this guy, he's a
skilled troll. He managed to elicit a
"asshole" and a "moron" from people who
agree with him on this issue. Funny.
\_ You know, the owner of my favorite neighborhood
lunch place retired and her son took over the
running of the place. You know what the bastard
did? He decided to go upscale, changed the
menu, and raised prices! Now the place sits
half-empty, and I have to get my lunches from
another restaurant. There should be a law
against restaurants changing owners and raising
prices. |
| 5/24 |
|
| www.csua.org/u/az4 -> www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0206investor06.html Gambling on housing Investors squeeze Valley real estate market Catherine Reagor Burrough and Glen Creno The Arizona Republic Feb. They won't shop at the nearest grocery store, and they won't invite their neighbors over for a barbecue. That's because most of these out-of-state buyers are investors who live o utside Arizona but are purchasing houses here, counting on a better retu rn than the stock market. They are drawn here by Phoenix's impressive ho me appreciation. Most plan to sell in a short time for a fast profit or rent out the homes and sell later for even better profits. Other buyers may hold Valley homes longer for use as vacation or retirement homes, bu t they still see the property as an investment that could become their b iggest asset. Out-of-state buyers and investors are purchasing nearly one out of every four homes sold in the Phoenix area, a rate that has doubled in two year s The pace shows no signs of slowing, according to an Arizona Republic analysis of sales records done in collaboration with real estate data ex pert Tom Ruff of the Phoenix firm Infocom. advertisement Most of those buyers didn't move into the homes they bought. The number o f metro Phoenix houses purchased by investors and turned into rentals ha s tripled since 2002. Never has the demand for residential real estate in metro Phoenix been hi gher. Almost half of the homes in some new neighborhoods in Gilbert and Scottsdale are investment properties or rentals. Nationally, investors now account for about 10 percent of all home sales, according to mortgage lenders. The Phoenix area is drawing more than double the average US ra te of investment home buying. Phoenix's new title as a hot spot to invest in homes could carry much mor e risk than status. This influx of investors could damage Phoenix's hous ing industry, the most dominant part of the area's economy. Already, hom e prices are being pushed beyond what some Valley residents can afford. The trend raises concerns among local homeowners, who worry that investor s could hurt housing values and harm the quality of their communities. Too many rentals in a neighborhood can deter other buyers, reduce home va lues and lead to blight if the properties aren't maintained. Also, inves tors who can't find tenants might sell for a loss, and too many of those deals would drive down the value of all Valley homes. Flocking to Phoenix Californians are the biggest group of out-of-state investors in greater P hoenix, making up almost 50 percent of the market. Zareh Tahmassebian lives in Las Vegas but has bought 15 houses in the Pho enix area since summer. The 23-year-old mortgage banker is gambling on h ome values continuing to climb. Tahmassebian sold ho uses in Los Angeles when prices began to shoot up there a few years ago. He then began buying homes in Las Vegas, but when housing prices in the Nevada city broke national records by climbing 50 percent in a year, Ta hmassebian started looking for the next hot real estate market in the We st. He turned his sights to the Phoenix area and began cashing out in La s Vegas. Twelve of Tahmassebian's metro Phoenix houses are new, bought despite eff orts by home builders to ban or regulate investor buying. Builders don't want speculators buying homes early in a new development. If speculator s get in at the beginning of a project, they can buy at a lower price. B y the time the homes are finished, the builder has raised prices on the same-style homes several times, so the speculators can sell the house fo r a profit while still charging less than the builder. Tahmassebian and a partner paid more than $2 million for their Phoenix in vestment properties and estimate the houses are now worth almost $3 mill ion. They put 10 percent or less down on each house, so only about $300, 000 of their own money is on the line. "Why buy one house with cash when you can buy 10 of them at 10 percent down?" The partners plan to sell the houses in a year or two and buy more. They aren't worried about rents covering the mortgage payments because they'r e counting on appreciation. Plus, Tahmassebian and his partner can write off any losses and mortgage expenses. Despite double-dig it increases last year, homes prices in the Phoenix area are relatively low for the West. The median, or typical, price of a new house at the en d of 2004 was $195,000; Houses in metro Phoenix cost one-third of what the typical home sells for in California and at least $100,000 less than houses in Las Vegas and Denver. "Investors in Las Vegas got their awakening late last year," said Gadi Ka ufmann, chief executive of national real estate consulting firm Robert C harles Lesser & Co. He said Phoenix needs to be careful not to mimic Las Vegas' recent home p rice run-up and overinvestment boom, or it will lose out on drawing new residents and businesses. Builders such as Pulte Homes cut new home prices in Las Vegas by 10 to 15 percent in September after skyrocketing housing costs dampened demand. Market watchers are now concerned the same could happen in Phoenix. "Investors are behind the housing market's big numbers now," said Jay But ler, director of the Arizona Real Estate Center. Used-home sales climbed 30 percent last year to a new record of 112,813, according to RL Brown's Phoenix Housing Market Letter. At the same tim e, metro Phoenix surpassed Atlanta to lead the nation in new-home buildi ng during 2004. Last year, Brown tallied almost 61,000 permits for singl e-family homes. The investment game Like typical homeowners, residential investors can deduct up to a certain amount of the mortgage interest they pay from their tax liability. Rent al-property owners also can write off all expenses to upgrade and mainta in homes. Out-of-state buyers aren't the only ones cashing in on Phoenix's housing market. Many Valley homeowners are tapping the recent equity run-ups in their primary residences to buy investment properties they can rent out or resell for a profit. America West Airlines pilot Roger Pieper has a different investment strat egy than Tahmassebian. Pieper and his wife, Anne, of Chandler, buy house s as long-term holdings that must bring in enough cash to cover their co sts. The Piepers have about $90,000 invested in 11 houses that are worth about $2 million. Roger Pieper estimates the houses will appreciate by $200,0 00 this year. A small amount in an investment can get you a high return." Including local buyers like the Piepers, investment-driven home purchases accounted for as many as 30 percent of metro Phoenix's home sales in 20 04. Pieper isn't worried that Phoenix's housing market is attracting too many investors or that prices will spin out of control. "The increases are a shock to people in Phoenix, but people in California laugh at us when we say prices are going nuts here," he said. Sam Van Winkle, a computer consultant from the San Jose area, has been in vesting in Phoenix houses for three years. He owns five homes in Chandle r and Gilbert and wants to buy three or four more. So far, Van Winkle ha s spent about $400,000 on residential property in the Valley, which he e stimates is now worth more than $1 million. Much of Phoenix's growth has been spurred by new residents moving to the area for its affordable housing. Home prices already are far outpacing t he Valley's income gains. If housing costs continue to increase by doubl e digits, it will push homeownership out of the reach of most buyers. Th ese are the people left behind when fickle investors move on to the next hot housing market. If that happens, metro Phoenix's growth would stall along with the area's biggest industry. Frank Hanson, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Success Realty in Mesa, said investors have to be cautious. When home prices go too far be yond what local residents can afford, the market will soften. Based on m etro Phoenix's typical household income of $50,000, homes priced above $ 200,000 are unaffordable. Tahmassebian believes Phoenix is far from its peak and is counting on his homes to appreciate at least 20 percent this year and the next. Real estate analysts are calling for home prices to flatten or increa... |